Panic attacks and Zombies
by ammstar11
Summary: Will and Nico have been together for years now, they are living in a comfortable apartment together and Will thought that the past was behind them but when he steps out one morning to run to the store he learns that Nico still has a fear of being left alone when he comes home to a living room full of zombies and skeletons. (Bypassing or ignoring the events of ToA)


**Hey guys, so I ended up procrastinating again and I couldn't get this thought out of my head so I wrote it out, this is based on a post on tumblr I saw awhile back but can't find again, I had written a drabble for it at the time but decided to go more in depth with it so here you go.**

Panic attacks and zombies

Will and Nico have been together for years now, they are living in a comfortable apartment together and Will thought that the past was behind them. But when he steps out one morning to run to the store he learns that Nico still has a fear of being left alone when he comes home to a living room full of zombies and skeletons. (Bypassing or ignoring the events of ToA)

Will rolled over in bed to see the sunlight spilling in through the part in their bedroom curtains; his heart still swells at that thought.

 _Our bedroom._

Will and Nico had been together for years now; they had gotten together shortly after the second Giant war and the battle with Gaea. After leaving camp they had settled down and gotten a place of their own and every time Will thought about it he couldn't help but smile.

He turned his head and looked beside him at the messy bed head of soft black hair on the pillow next to him, Nico always slept later than Will and that was okay, he just wanted him to get enough rest and truthfully he loved the peaceful look on his face as he slept.

Will smiled and reached a hand over to run his fingers through Nico's hair, the only reaction he got from him was a soft sigh and Nico moving closer to him but still remaining asleep.

 _Gods he's so cute when he's like this._

Will pulled his hand away from Nico's hair a little reluctantly and looked at the alarm clock sitting on the bedside table on his side of the bed, the time read 6:55 a.m. Will sighed and sat up letting the covers fall away as he got out of bed; it was time to greet the day even though all he really wanted to do was continue watching Nico sleep peacefully, but he was already awake so he figured he might as well get a start on his morning routine now.

Will changed out of his pajamas and threw on some track pants and a t-shirt and went to splash some water on his face before heading to the kitchen. He opened the fridge to grab his water bottle and noticed that they were out of milk and a couple of other things so he pulled out his phone to make a small list of things to buy while he was out.

"Hmm it shouldn't take me too long to make a quick detour to the store and pick up a few things right? I bet Nico won't even notice I'm out." He said to himself as he thought aloud.

But just to be safe Will wrote a quick note to Nico that he would be out for his morning run and that he was running to the store but should be home soon.

 _P.S. I'll make us a fancy breakfast that we can eat in bed when I get home._

 _Love Will._

Will drew a little sun after signing his name and placed the note on the bedside table next to Nico and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead before leaving the room and heading to the door to put on his shoes before leaving the apartment.

…

At the feeling of the Kiss Nico rolled over pulling the blankets closer to him as Will turned away from the bed and ended up knocking the note off of the stand next to him causing it to fall to the floor and a little under the bed out of sight.

…

While Will was out he saw a few others out for an early morning run, a few people walking their dogs, some people on their way to work, and a mom out for a walk pushing her baby in a stroller. Will couldn't help but stop to pet the dogs and say good morning to the mother and make goofy faces at the baby causing them to laugh.

Instead of going his usual route Will continued on another block so instead of crossing the street to go to park where he normally ran, and headed for the supermarket to pick up the things on his list.

…

"Let's see I'll need to get some more milk, and we'll need some more eggs, I'll grab a few berries while I'm here. I'll make some waffles with a side of strawberries for Deathboy when I get home, I'm sure he'd like that for breakfast in bed." Will said to himself as he looked at the list and walked down the aisles of the supermarket.

While he was shopping he ran into a neighbor of theirs, a woman in the mid stages of pregnancy and they ended up talking as they shopped, she offered to give Will a ride home in exchange for help carrying her groceries up the four flights of stairs up to their apartments, he was more than happy to agree of course.

After making his purchase Will looked down at his phone and saw that he had been out longer than he had planned for.

"Oh boy I should really head home before Nico gets up." He grabbed his two bags and helped his neighbor with hers and together they headed out to the car.

…

Nico rolled over in bed and stretched his arm out to the other side of the bed and found that it was empty; he opened his eyes and looked beside him.

"Will?" but he wasn't there.

 _Is he up already?_

Nico looked at the clock 8:09 a.m. maybe Will was in the shower so Nico sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes but he couldn't hear the sound of running water.

"Will?" he called out wandering if Will was in a different part of the apartment but got no response.

 _That's strange._

Usually by the time Nico woke up Will was already up and sitting in the kitchen at their table eating breakfast or something while he let Nico sleep in. Nico got out of bed throwing the covers off and heading to the hallway, he looked in the bathroom but it was empty he called out for Will again a little louder this time, maybe Will just had his headphones in and hadn't heard him before.

"Will?"

But still there was no response.

Nico was starting to feel nervous now, he looked in the kitchen but there was still no sign of Will there and he wasn't in the living room either. By now Nico's heart was racing and he couldn't stop his mind from wandering to places he's rather it not go, he thought unwillingly back to that time so long ago when he and coach Hedge had woken up to find Reyna missing and he couldn't help the fear welling up inside him telling him that something had taken Will.

He was always afraid deep down that his presence near the son of Apollo would make him a target for enemies out to get him. His heart rate picked up and his breathing shallowed as more and more horrible thoughts played out inside his mind.

 _Will should be here, he should have been here by now, so where was he?_

There was no sign of him having been home in a while and there was no note anywhere that Nico could see.

His panic rising, Nico could feel the shadows all around him despite it being daylight and the room fairly lit, he felt a tug in his stomach as his powers kicked in and from the shadows around him he managed to subconsciously summon around a dozen zombies and skeletons causing them to appear around the apartment, since he hadn't meant to bring them here he had no clear instructions to give them so they just started wandering around aimlessly through the different rooms.

Nico's stress levels only increased as he looked around at the dozen undead worriers wandering around the apartment but he couldn't calm down enough to think clearly and send them back to his father's realm in the underworld, all he could think was how much he didn't want to be alone at that moment so the zombies and skeletons were there to stay until he managed to calm down.

"Will…" he managed to get out in a small voice as he clutched his head and sank to the floor, just then the front door opened.

…

"Here you go, that's the last of them." Will said to his neighbor as he handed her the last bag to put in the kitchen, it had taken a little longer getting home because of a fender-bender holding up traffic a block away from the building, luckily they got home before any of the frozen groceries began to melt to the point of no return and Will had helped her bring her bags up to their floor and place them inside the kitchen to make things easier on her.

"Thanks for the ride; it was nice running into you today." he said picking up his own bags and headed for the door.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like to stay for some tea?" she asked putting away a few things and Will smiled but shook his head declining politely.

"Thanks but I need to get home, I left my boyfriend asleep and promised that I'd be back soon to make him breakfast in bed."

She smiled and nodded her understanding.

"That's so sweet of you, well you better run along then. I'm sure he'll be wanting to see you when he gets up."

After saying goodbye one more time Will closed the door behind him and headed to his own door unlocking it, just as he walks in he sees Nico in the living room fall to his knees, hands gripping his head tightly and his chest heaving. Will puts down his shopping bags immediately and runs over to his boyfriend. "Nico! Nico it's me! What's wrong?!"

He starts rubbing circles in Nico's back as he waited for his breathing to calm down. "That's it just take slower breaths, in… out… in…. and out… that's it." he said in a soothing voice as he kept all of his focus on Nico.

When he had finally calmed down he took a shuttering breath as he looked up and met Will's eyes and Will saw the tears shining there.

"You were gone and I didn't know where you were." he said in a shaky voice.

Will pulled him into his arms and held him close to let him know that he was here now and that everything was going to be just fine.

"It's okay Neeks, I'm here now. I just went for a run and stopped at the store to pick up a few things, I know I'm a little late but didn't you see my note?"

Nico just looked questioningly at him. Then out of nowhere a skeletal hand held a piece of paper between them causing Will to nearly jump out of his skin from being caught off guard.

Now that Nico had calmed down the tunnel vision that had seized Will when he had first entered the room cleared away and he realized that they weren't the only ones in the room, he looked around at the dozen or so zombies and skeletons around them.

 _How did I miss that?_ Will thought to himself as he stared at them.

Meanwhile Nico read over the note that had been handed to him. "Where did you find this?" he asked the skeleton that had brought it to him.

Will could only hear a strange clicking noise but Nico seemed to understand what it had said and nodded.

"I guess it had fallen on the floor under the bed." he said, more so just thinking out loud.

Everything clicked into place and Will understood what had happened now. "You thought I had disappeared without a trace huh?"

Nico nodded mutely and Will pulled him back in for another hug and Nico returned it holding Will close as if he couldn't bare the thought of anything happening to him.

"I'll always come back to you Neeks, don't worry."

Nico didn't say anything but Will knew he understood.

After a couple of minutes Will and Nico let go of each other and stand up, Will was about to go grab the bags he had left by the door but saw that they had already been moved.

"Huh?" Will looked at the empty space a little baffled and Nico chuckled softly.

"When I don't give them orders the dead just do their own thing, sometimes that means just standing around like statues, and sometimes they just do whatever they deem useful like cleaning and things like that, that's how the one found the note. I guess he decided to make the bed."

Will laughed thinking how funny it was that his boyfriend had basically called in undead maids for them. "Well I guess we should thank them." Will gave Nico a quick kiss before heading towards the kitchen, "You can tell them they're free to go back now, and you can go back to bed if you like, I'm making fruit and waffles so just go relax until breakfast is ready." he called from the kitchen.

Nico smiled to himself and concentrated on sending the dead back to the underworld. "Thanks you guys; go back for now."

When the apartment was zombie and skeleton free Nico went into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around Will as he rested his chin of Will's shoulder while he prepared their breakfast.

"You know you can go back to bed if you'd like." Will said not turning around but the relaxed way he stood told Nico that he was perfectly happy with them standing like this.

"I'm awake now; maybe we'll just curl up on the couch and eat while we watch tv."

Will leaned his head to the side a bit to rest it on top of Nico's. "Sounds like a plan." he said and Nico smiled as he stood there holding Will and never wanting to let go.

 **Please let me know what you think.**


End file.
